51 



Wfyz Ercaguri? at 2Sotang. 



[ammo 



The leaves are equally pinnate, large, and, 

 when young, of a pale purple colour. 

 ' The flowers are large, scentless, and of a 

 bright vermilion colour, diversified with 

 three yellow spots, and disposed in gigantic 

 ovate* pendulous hunches.' The tree is 

 cultivated in some of the larger English 

 gardens ; but, requiring so much space, is 

 seldom met with in collections. The Bur- 

 mese name of the plant is Thoca, and 

 handfuls of the flowers are offered before 

 the images of Buddha. [A. A. B.] 



AMLASTEIUM. The name of a genus 

 of Isorth American plants, belonging to 

 the same family — Melanthacece — as the 

 Colchicum and Yeratrum. The species have 

 a widely-spreading petal-like perianth, 

 without glands ; six stamens attached be- 

 neath the ovary, with their anthers burst- 

 ing outwardly; a capsule of three cells, 

 which separate one from the other when 

 ripe. One species, A. musccetoxicum, con- 

 tains a narcotic poison which is injurious 

 to cattle that browse on its foliage. Its 

 bulbs, pouuded and mixed with honey, are 

 used as a fly poison. [M. T. M.] 



AMICIA. A genus of the pea family 

 (Leguminosce), named in honour of Prof. 

 J. B. Amici, of Modena, a distinguished 

 microscopical observer. There are but two 

 species known, one of them found in the 

 vicinity of Loxa, and the other in the Cor- 

 dilleras of Mexico, at an elevation of 5,000 

 to 8,000 feet. They are both straggling 

 shrubs, having alternate pinnate leaves, 

 with few leaflets. Their flower stalks are 

 axillary or terminal, having at their base 

 two large, kidney-shaped, coloured bracts. 

 Two of the segments of the calyx are 

 large compared with the others, and 

 roundish in form. The pods are com- 

 pressed, and jointed. All the parts of the 

 plant are covered with pellucid, glandular 

 dots, somewhat like those of St. John's 

 wort. A. zygomeris, the Mexican species, is 

 sometimes to be found in gardens, and is 

 well worth cultivation, especially as it 

 flowers late in autumn, or during the 

 early part of winter. It is generally treated 

 as a greenhouse plant ; but, in the South 

 of England, if planted out of doors in the 

 spring, it generally flowers well in the 

 autumn. The flowers are large, and of a 

 pale yellow colour— about the size of an 

 everlasting pea. [A. A. B.] 



AMIDOXXIER. <Tr.) Triticum dlcoccum. 

 sometimes called T. 



AMMAXXIA. A genus of inconspicuous 

 herbs, of the order Lythracece, growing in 

 wet places in the warmer regions of the 

 globe ; mostly glabrous annuals, with 

 square stems, opposite entire leaves, and 

 small axillary, nearly sessile flowers, 

 often without petals. Several specieshave 

 been introduced, but are more curious 

 than beautiful. A. vesicatcrria has acrid 

 leaves, which, when bruised, are used by 

 the native practitioners of India to raise 

 blisters. [J. T. S.] 



AMMI. A small genus of umbelliferous 



plants, with the habit of the carrot (Daic- 

 cus), spindle-shaped roots, and many-parted 

 leaves ; it is remarkable for the large 

 size of the outer petals of the umbel. As 

 the name denotes (.from the Greek ammo.?, 

 sand), they affect sandy ground, but wall 

 thrive if sown in the common soil of the 

 garden border. Common Bishop-weed, A. 

 majus, is a native of the south and middle 

 of Europe, Egypt, and the Levant, where 

 it attains the height of three or four feet. 

 Tooth-pick Bishop-weed, A. Yisnaga, is so 

 called on account of the use made in Spain 

 of the rays or stalks of the main umbel. 

 These, after flowering, shrink, and become 

 so hard that they form convenient tooth- 

 picks. "When they have fulfilled this pur- 

 pose, they are chewed, and are supposed to 

 be of service in cleaning and fastening the 

 gums: however this may be, the leaves 

 have a pleasant aromatic flavour in the 

 - mouth. [C. A. J.] 



J AMMOBIUM. The A. alatum, the only 

 known species, is a curious Australian 

 annual of the composite order, remarkable 

 for its winged stem. In a structural point 

 j of view, it is allied to the genera Gnapha- 

 lium and Antennaria, from which it differs 

 | but slightly, except in habit. The root- 

 leaves are lance-shaped, with a long nar- 

 j row foot-stalk, those of the stem and 

 j branches very small, and prolonged down- 

 ! wards in a narrow, wing-like form. The 

 flower heads, which are of the dry everlast- 

 ing character so common to plants of the 

 i Australian continent, are nearly an inch 

 I across, with a disk of tubular florets ; a re- 

 j ceptacle set with oblong, pointed, tooth- 

 j leted, chaffy scales ; an involucre of im- 

 ! bricated leaflets, the inner series of which 

 I have membranous margins, and a four- 

 j angled, elongated fruit, furnished at the 

 apex with four teeth, the two larger of 

 which are terminated by a bristle. The 

 plant remains some time in flower, and is 

 not without a certain degree of interest; 

 though, as an ornamental plant, it is almost 

 superseded by the more recent species of 

 II click ry sum, RJwdanthe, and Acroclinhnn, 

 from the same continent. [W. T.] 



AMMOCHARIS. A genus of Amarylli- 

 dacece, in which the tube of the six-parted 

 perianth is cylindrical, enlarged, the sepa- 

 line divisions not imbricating thereon ; 

 the filaments of the stamens are adjusted 

 almost equally at the base of the limb ; 

 the anthers are short, affixed in the mid- 

 dle ; and the capsule is turbinate, threes 

 celled. The leaves are vernal, and not 

 sheathing. The genus is intermediate be- 

 tween Crinum and Buphane, differing from 

 the first in its anthers, its filaments inserted 

 just within instead of without the tube, 

 its shorter limb and wider-mouthed tube, 

 and its leaves not sheathing; and from the 

 last, by the wider mouth of the tube of 

 the perianth, the insertion of the filaments 

 within the tube, and the more numerous 

 ovules. The two species, sometimes re- 

 ferred to Brunsvigia, are South African. 

 A. falcata has ligulate glaucous leaves, and 



